Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Today is Chris' 37th Birthday! He's taken off from work on his birthday since I've met him since he likes to take off between Christmas and New Year's. Today we are out doing some shopping and having lunch while we are out. Tonight we will be having a quiet dinner at home just the three of us. We celebrated Chris' birthday with both of our families this past weekend.

On Saturday night, we went to my parents' house for dinner. We then sang happy birthday to not only Chris, but also to Trisha (my sister-in-law) and Luke (my younger brother). Trisha and Chris have the EXACT same birthday (same day and year) and Luke will be 27 on January 10th. They each got a cupcake with a candle in it and we sang three times :)

Noah and Aidan helped blow out the candles, but I have to say I think Aidan won the prize for the best cupcake eater!

On Sunday night, we went out for Hibachi with Chris' parents to celebrate both Chris and his dad's birthdays. Noah loved the spectacle of it all when we went with my family, so we thought it would be fun to take him again. This time he was more interested in the "show" when it was happening at other tables and not as much at our own table. Instead, he just wanted to climb all over a nearby booth ;) He was interested in eating the rice and noodles and was even able to use the kid chopsticks all on his own! We ended the evening with some ice cream and a big sparkler!

Monday, December 29, 2014

Christmas has officially come and gone. While our plans may have changed a little last minute, we were still able to see both of our families this year. We spent Christmas Eve with the Flinns and Christmas Day with my family.

On Christmas Eve, we went over to Nonna & Granddad's house for dinner. We celebrated with Chris' brother, Chris' Great Uncle & Aunt and their son, as well as a family friend. The night was full of good food and everyone opening gifts. I think Noah's favorite gift of the night was the easel from Uncle Bobby & Aunt Judy!

^^^ Noah painted and put his handprints on a trivet for both sets of grandparents... they loved it!

When we got home, we immediately changed Noah into his PJs and came downstairs to leave some cookies and milk for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph. I guess Noah didn't realize they were for Santa, because he proceeded to eat a whole cookie! Noah then unwrapped his last Christmas book and we read "The Night Before Christmas" in front of the tree. Noah was really into it and thought it was cool when I pointed out the cookies, milk, and carrots left out for Santa just like we did! I love seeing Noah's face when it all clicks and makes sense to him!

Christmas Day was all about opening gifts from Santa and my family. Since Noah isn't old enough to wake up earlier from excitement, he woke up at 7:30 like he usually does. I grew up where Santa left our stockings in our room (our outside our door) and we were allowed to open it when we woke up. I was notorious for getting up super early (like before 5 am early) on Christmas, so this gave my parents some extra sleeping time or time to get dressed and ready to go downstairs. We've continued this tradition and Noah found his stocking on his changing table and opened it in his room. We purposefully filled it with things that could keep him entertained for at least 30 minutes (books, stickers, Curious George & Thomas DVDs, matchbox cars, etc). Chris and I took turns reading books and using the stickers while I brushed my hair and teeth and Chris grabbed some donuts and hot chocolate at Dunkin Donuts. We couldn't have planned it better!

We then headed downstairs to open gifts. Santa brought Noah a work bench and we gave him a bunch of gifts as well. The first gift he opened was a toy cash register and it was definitely his favorite. We knew it would be a hit, and we probably should have held it back til last, because once he opened it he just wanted to play with that instead of opening more gifts.

After Noah opened all his gifts under the tree, we took him into the basement where Grandma and Grandpa Santa (my parents buy one gift for each of the grandkids that is technically from Santa) left him a train table! He was so excited about it, especially since whenever we asked him what he wanted Santa to bring him, he said "choo choo".

My parents and brother then came over to give Noah his presents. I get my love for Christmas from my mom. She works so hard to make sure everyone has a magical Christmas and gets gifts they love. My mom had to take a separate car to our house because she had so many gifts to bring in what she called her "sleigh". Noah is going through a big Jake and the Neverland Pirates phase right now, so he loved all the legos and dress up toys he got!

But I'd have to say his favorite gift was his new iPad mini from Grandma & Grandpa! He had no clue what it was from the box and actually tossed it aside at first! But once Chris opened it and put the case on, he immediately clued in started watching his YouTube digger shows. He was a happy camper on Christmas!

My parents and brother then left so that Noah could nap. They were also waiting for my older brother and his family to arrive from Rhode Island. The kids opened their gifts from Grandma & Grandpa and then everyone came back over for a super relaxed Christmas dinner. In my family, we prefer the appetizers to an actual dinner. So we did just that and had a few pastas and salad to make it a real meal. The cousins exchanged gifts and then spent the rest of the night playing together. Noah loves playing with his older cousins, Matthew (4) and Kaitlyn (7). Aidan (who's also 2) prefers to play on his own most of the time. Christmas has become that much more fun now that there are more kids running around the house!

It was a busy two days and we had a blast. We feel so blessed to be able to spend Christmas with our families and to truly make it a special time for Noah. Merry Christmas!

Friday, December 26, 2014

Can you believe Christmas is over? I hope everyone had a great day with their loved ones! While our plans ended up changing a little, I think Noah had a fantastic Christmas this year. We got to see both families and Noah got to play with his cousins! I will be back on Monday sharing a full recap of our Christmas this year. In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to recap how we spent the Christmas season. In case you missed it, at the beginning of the month, I shared our December Bucket List. Here's how we did (in pictures)...

The only things we didn't end up doing was "go to church music program" and the "act out the nativity" part. Honestly, I'm impressed we were able to do so many of the things on the list... it made for a super fun December!

Thursday, December 25, 2014

This morning we are opening gifts and making memories just the three of us. This afternoon, my parents, Chris' parents, and two of our brothers will be coming over for Christmas dinner. I'll be sure to recap the whole thing next week :)

I shared them last year, but in case you wanted to take a trip down memory lane, here are our past Christmas cards :)

2013

2012 (the best Christmas gift!)

2011

2010 (with pictures from our Honeymoon)

looking back I'm a little embarrassed at my photography/lack of editing skills!